Tyler Hubbard Has A New Side Hustle, New Music Too

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Tyler Hubbard has been a minute,my dude, I was life treating you.
Man. I'm so good, buddy, I'm doing awesome. How are
you? I can't complain, Ican't. Honestly, life is good.
The weather's turning the corner in Nustvillehere, so we will take it.
This is the time of year.Yeah, dude, spring is here.
Fantastic music news coming from you.But I want to start with how crazy

(00:22):
has this ride been for you sincekind of the relaunch of your career,
because literally, you didn't It's likeyou haven't missed a beat. Does it
feel that ways, buddy? Insome ways it does, Man, it
feels really good. I feel likeI found my rhythm. I feel like
I'm re energized. I'm remotivated andinspired, and I got to really give

(00:44):
that up to the fans. Youknow, I've been out all last year
after putting out my debut album.I was out on the road kind of
getting to you know, meet myfans if you will, for the first
time and just really feel the connection, feel the support for the love.
And so yeah, man, I'min a great place. I'm excited about
this next album, and you know, life is good. Family, is
good. Music is music is good. So yeah, I just feel like

(01:10):
I'm kind of in a rhythm.Man, I'm thankful for it. Uh,
collaborations are hot in country music,and man, you're you're a part
of really what helped them come backto life, right, and whether it
was Nelly, Tim McGraw, LukeBryant, Jason Derulo, right, yeah,
yeah, is there Have you thoughtabout the collaboration pool and dipping your

(01:30):
toe back into it? And yeah, I have. Man, you know,
I've been very intentional with these mydebut album and now my second album
to h to do no collaborations,you know. But it was hard for
me because I love I love thatprocess. I love making music with friends.
But I just felt that it wasreally important because technically I've made I've

(01:53):
always collaborated my whole entire career.You know, if it wasn't with another
artist, it was with BK.And that's kind of what I was used
to. So I felt like itwas important to really figure out who I
was on my own and make musicthat reflects that. But now, dude,
yeah, I'm really to a toa spot now where if I'm not
there, I'm really close to wantingto get back into the collaboration game.

(02:15):
And uh, you know, it'sgot to be the right song, the
right artists, and the right team. But when that time comes, I
think I'm ready. Who are notsaying you have the song sitting there waiting
now. But when you listen tocountry radio, or when you're you know,
scrolling through like some of the newsongs coming out, or watching an
award show, who are artists thatyou're like when I'm ready to hop back

(02:38):
in the deep end. I'm notto hit you. Jack Harlow, He's
not a country guy, but Ilove Jack Harlow. I love what he's
doing, I love his music.I'm a big fan. I'm kind of
kidding, but I'm actually not kiddingat all. I'd love to work with
him at some point. But asfar as as far as uh, the
country music community goes, you know, there's a lot of people that I

(03:02):
really respect and love what they're doing. You know, I got a big
heart for Jelly Roll. I lovehis I love who he is. I
think he'd be fun to work withat some point. I think Hardy.
I've loved Hardy and you know,as a creative for a long time and
as a person. I think he'dbe great to work with in some capacity.

(03:23):
I mean, the list goes onand on, dude. I mean,
honestly, there's a lot of peopleI really love. I know,
we've worked with Morgan before, Ido something with him again. I think
he's uh, he's come a longlong way, and if the song was
right, I think that could bea lot of fun. But uh,
but yeah, I mean there's there'sthere's a lot of incredible talent right now
in country music, you know,and uh, even the Bailey Zimmerman's and

(03:45):
I mean Corey Kent. I reallylove what Corey Kent's doing and had the
honor of meeting him recently and connectingwith him and chatting and he's just an
awesome dude. So yeah, Icould continue, but I think those those
artists are probably at the top ofmy list. Back to the Jack Harlowe
thing, you have this way andyou have since since country radio first embrace

(04:05):
y'all. You have this way ofbringing an artist too who isn't country right,
maybe doesn't fit what what somebody callscountry. You have a way of
pulling that man and almost like peopleforget does that makes sense? I'm sure
you've heard that before. I'll takethat, man, I'll take it.
Yeah, it's uh, you know, as far as Jack's concerned, I

(04:27):
mean, he's a Kentucky dude.I feel like he's probably he's probably a
little more country than he leads on. I think if we got in the
studio, it'd probably be pretty fun. But uh, I think you'd fit
right in. But uh, butyeah, that's the beauty of getting out
of our comfort zone, getting outof our box, getting out of our
Nashville bubble, and and and expandingand growing as an artist and a writer.
And a lot of times, youknow, I have a lot more

(04:48):
in common with with other artists andother genres than I then you know you
think you will. And I thinkthat's just part of part of the beauty
of it all, and just gettingtogether and uh and and really getting created
in the same room and finding thecommon ground something I don't think. I
mean, you get credit for it, but I think you're dang near at

(05:09):
elite status when it comes to thetype of songwriter you are, because Bud,
you have what you create as anartist. But if some people saw
your name tied to certain songs,they'd be like really he did that.
One of those is a song thatI was lucky enough to hear a couple
of weeks ago, and it blewmy mind to hear that Tyler Hubbard is

(05:31):
a writer on a Chris Jansen song. Oh yeah, those are not same
format, right, but there's somethinglike so different about how you approach what
you do and he does what hedoes. But like to hear y'all come
together. Tell me about how thatcollaboration happened. Well, bro, that
wasn't even that was a throwback song. That's a song that I wrote twenty
twenty sitting on the bus in mydriveway when I had COVID. I co

(05:53):
wrote that one on over Zoom withray Lean seven twenty boys and kind of
does it up. I was goingthrough old demos and I do this occasionally
on flights or something. I'll justgo through my phone and just listen to
just songs from back in the day. And I ran up on this song
and thought, man, this songfeels really cool and it's like, man,

(06:13):
this is a jammer. And therewas a line in it that made
me think of Chris Jansen. Itwas I originally had a line in there
something about pouring out a diet duejust to have a spit cup. And
I thought, man, there's notmany people out there that could pull this
off. But I do know oneguy, and so I send it his
way and he loved it. Hetweaked a few things and kind of made
it his own. But but yeah, that was a fun. Occasionally that

(06:38):
works out where I'll just be listeningto old demos, and that's one of
my favorite things, is to justtry to think outside the box. Think
where can this song live a life, you know, because it's obviously deserves
to live a life further than justmy cell phone. And so that was
one of those songs, and Iwas glad he dug it, he made
it, he made it his own. It's really cool and I'm excited for
him. How does that fulfill youversus the artist side of things, to

(07:02):
write, create and then kind ofhand it off and let somebody else,
you know, bring it to life. Yeah, I just think that's the
songwriter in me, you know,and the publisher, you know. I
love the process. I know howdifficult it is, especially this day in
time, to get an outside cut. So it's a lot harder to get
an outside cut than it is forme to go record a song and put

(07:23):
it out. So I consider thatjust a huge honor I really do as
a songwriter. You know, inanother artist records a song that you were
a part of writing. It justit's just fulfilling, man, it's validating,
it's cool, and uh, Ijust it's something that never gets old.
It's one of my favorite parts ofthe game. So I keep doing
it. When it comes to albumtitles, it feels like we've hit this

(07:48):
era where people are more purposeful onon what they're going to name their albums.
Right, It's not just like,oh I like track five, call
it dat or you know, youpick three words out of a Fishbowldy Johnson
leather Right, that's very meaningful andpurposeful to where he's at in his life.
Kenny Cheeszey's about to put out Born, where he said he feels like

(08:09):
this is almost like a new versionof him in this album more so than
ever. So why does Strong fitfor you and where you're at right now?
All these one word titles? Youknow, well, Strong just kept
coming up through the process and makingthis album. You know, we referring
to a lot of the pieces ofthe puzzle as being strong. Whether it
was a song, a mix,a take, you know, an edit,

(08:31):
or a you know, photo shoot. We just kept saying that,
man, that's a strong that's astrong picture for the you know whatever.
And so as we were really tryingto nail it down, we decided we
kind of bounced some other ideas around, and we just decided, I think
strong feels appropriate. And you know, for me, I'm really I'm proud
of this project. I feel likeit's one of the strongest pieces of work

(08:52):
I've put together, you know,so far in my career, and I
can confidently say that. So Ijust just like, yeah, let's just
roll with strong. It feels goodand I loved it that song has or
that that word has some depth toit, you know what I mean.
It's it's it's very multi dimensional.If you will, you know, when
you when you talk about strength,you know, you can think about physical

(09:13):
strength obviously, but mental, emotional, spiritual strength, And if you listen
to the song, I'm really referringto relational strength when it comes to my
marriage and my relationship with my wife, which, uh, the more life
I live, the older I get, the more value that I really put
in relationships in my life that arestrong, you know, that take that
take work, that take investment,that take time and energy. Whether it's

(09:37):
my kids, whether it's my friends, whether it's my fans, all these
relationships that I would consider strong thatare really valuable to me based on the
work that we've put in. Whenit comes to that, obviously, back
then right now is another. Italmost feels like it can have more than

(09:58):
one meaning. When you hear thesong and when you see the title as
well, why did that fit forwhere you're at in this we'll call it
chapter two of your career? Yeah? Back then? Yeah, yeah,
it just felt appropriate sonically, itfelt appropriate. You know. Concept wise,
I feel like we're in a seasonas a culture to where a lot

(10:22):
of us are really wanting to simplifya lot of us are wanting to reminisce
on how things used to be andyou know, the good qualities of ways
of life maybe when we were growingup or things like that. So for
me, it just it struck apersonal chord. It really hit close to
home, and you know, Ican really relate to that where I'm at
right now in life. And Iguess my hope was just that everyone else's

(10:46):
hopefully feeling the same way. Andthe more I talk to people, the
more I gather that, Yeah,everybody's kind of on this, you know,
this wave right now of wanting toyou know, be nostalgic and be
classic, be vintage, and youknow all that's kind of in So it
felt very timely, but also justa song that meant a lot to me
and reflected where I'm at mentally rightnow, and and so yeah, I

(11:09):
just just went with it and itfelt it felt right when it comes to
what you have accomplished career wise alreadybefore and now, you know, with
with your solo efforts, you alsohave done a lot of awesome stuff away
from the music that some artists haven'tgotten to do. Uh, you know,
seeing your name or or picture ona bar downtown, Uh, being

(11:33):
a part of the the wolf Moonstuff. Not wolf Moon, but the
old camp old camps. Sorry,when you're sitting now, Dean's Bar was
part of it. Yeah, No, that's it. With knowing that you've
already had your hand in that typeof stuff. What are I'm gonna,
for a lack of a better phrase, call them side hustles. What are

(11:54):
some of the side hustles that youstill maybe maybe related to music or not
related to Nashville or not, thatyou hope to put your hands inside.
Oh yeah, I think there's quitea few. Man, this is kind
of silly, to be honest,and this is nothing of any of any
substance. But I'm actually excited.If you see what hat I'm wearing right

(12:15):
now, I'm gonna drop a hatline I'm called Hubcaps, and I'm just
gonna start releasing hats. Why not, you know, I wear hats all
the time. I was like,man, I need to just come up
with my own hats, and so, yeah, hubcaps is a thing that's
happening and it's gonna I wanna startdropping caps on y'all pretty soon. But
that's pretty that's just fun, youknow, something, just something to kind
of be a creative outlet in away. The funny thing about that is

(12:37):
I can't I can see hub butI can't see what it says underneath that.
So I was about to be like, what's the deal with the hat?
Because I'm my hats and jays inmy closet outweigh anything. I love
it, and so you let meknow on that hat. When that hat
game rolls because I'm gonna be oneof the first to hitch. I gotta
get you one. I'll sing yousome hats for sure. I'm in brother.
Hey, good luck on the restof the way to number one with

(13:00):
this one. And we can't waitto hear the album and hopefully we'll catch
up sooner or later, my man. Yeah, Wayne, thanks, Buddy,
good good to talk to you alwaysand we'll see soon. Likewise,
next see you